1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for transmitting information from a source via a first network unit and a network and a second network unit to a destination, which method comprises the step of using a service identifier for routing the information through the network.
Examples of such a source and of such a destination are subscribers, examples of such a first network unit and of such a second network unit are access multiplexers, and an example of such a network is a metropolitan Ethernet network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A prior art method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,388 B2, which discloses in its FIG. 1 a first switch (a first network unit) coupled to a second switch (a second network unit) via a virtual metropolitan area network core (a network). A virtual metropolitan area network identifier (a service identifier) is tagged to data packets (information) for routing the data packets through the virtual metropolitan area network core. This virtual metropolitan area network identifier associates the virtual metropolitan area network with a customer (a source) from which the data packet originated.
The known method is disadvantageous, inter alia, owing to the fact that it is relatively complex. To associate the virtual metropolitan area network with the customer from which the data packet originated, the virtual metropolitan area network identifier is to be derived from a virtual local area network identifier. This virtual local area network identifier needs to be allocated to the customer by the network.